Cosette Ellison Cosette Ellison (15) disappeared from her 423 Canyon Road, Moraga residence (near Walnut Creek) on Tuesday March 3rd 1970, believed to have been forcibly taken from outside her home after getting off the school bus from Campolinda High School. She was dropped off by bus driver, Eugene Yee, at 3:20 pm, who saw her cross the road and remove some letters from the mailbox before heading along the driveway. The bus driver noticed a man sitting in a truck near the residence. On his return journey 10 minutes later, the truck had edged closer to the driveway of the Ellison household but the occupant was no longer inside. Thirty minutes later, at approximately 4:00 pm, Mr and Mrs Richard Ellison returned to an empty house. Cosette's school books were not in their usual place and no mail had been brought into the house, suggesting something untoward had happened close to the time Eugene Yee passed the Ellison residence.
Three months earlier, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (16) had been abducted from her 158 Pioneer Avenue residence in Walnut Creek. She was later found floating off Light House Point in Santa Cruz on December 19th 1969.
Police investigating her disappearance were contacted by a resident of North Gate Road, approximately 4 miles east of Elaine Davis' residence, stating her 17-year-old daughter was being harassed. The Contra Costa Times stated "A resident of Northgate Road reported to the sheriff's office Tuesday that the man, described as between 30 and 35 years old, has been following her daughter for almost a week. Last Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, deputy sheriffs said, the man followed the petite mini-skirted high school girl home from a school bus stop. They said she received two suspicious phone calls Saturday morning, each time the caller attempting to find out if her parents were home. The girl finally told the caller her 19-year-old brother was home, although she has no brother. She received no more phone calls. On Sunday, she was riding her horse in the yard of her home when the same man drove past in a small blue car. He later returned, stopped his car, but did not get out. About 6 pm, Monday, a car drove past the residence three times while the girl's parents were shopping. After the third time, there was a knock at the door and a man repeatedly said "I know you are home alone. Can I use your phone-my car has broken down". Lieutenant Holthus said the home was staked out but the man did not show up."
Was the man described above stalking this girl by trailing the school bus? Cosette Ellison had just been dropped off home after returning from school, when she went missing. North Gate Road extends right into the Mount Diablo State Park foothills, which will become extremely relevant when we consider the location Cosette Ellison's body was discovered
Three months earlier, on December 1st 1969, Elaine Davis (16) had been abducted from her 158 Pioneer Avenue residence in Walnut Creek. She was later found floating off Light House Point in Santa Cruz on December 19th 1969.
Police investigating her disappearance were contacted by a resident of North Gate Road, approximately 4 miles east of Elaine Davis' residence, stating her 17-year-old daughter was being harassed. The Contra Costa Times stated "A resident of Northgate Road reported to the sheriff's office Tuesday that the man, described as between 30 and 35 years old, has been following her daughter for almost a week. Last Wednesday and Thursday afternoon, deputy sheriffs said, the man followed the petite mini-skirted high school girl home from a school bus stop. They said she received two suspicious phone calls Saturday morning, each time the caller attempting to find out if her parents were home. The girl finally told the caller her 19-year-old brother was home, although she has no brother. She received no more phone calls. On Sunday, she was riding her horse in the yard of her home when the same man drove past in a small blue car. He later returned, stopped his car, but did not get out. About 6 pm, Monday, a car drove past the residence three times while the girl's parents were shopping. After the third time, there was a knock at the door and a man repeatedly said "I know you are home alone. Can I use your phone-my car has broken down". Lieutenant Holthus said the home was staked out but the man did not show up."
Was the man described above stalking this girl by trailing the school bus? Cosette Ellison had just been dropped off home after returning from school, when she went missing. North Gate Road extends right into the Mount Diablo State Park foothills, which will become extremely relevant when we consider the location Cosette Ellison's body was discovered
On January 1st 1971, nearly a year after the disappearance of Cosette Ellison, her body was found in a ravine of the Mount Diablo foothills. The residences of 423 Canyon Road and North Gate Road are extremely rural and spread, with a reduced chance of being overseen in the commission of an abduction. This may have been a consideration for the perpetrator, who likely followed school buses to a more remote setting. The risky nature of forcibly removing somebody from outside their residence necessitates a lack of eyewitnesses.
Shortly after the Elaine Davis abduction on December 1st 1969, a resident of North Gate Road reported a suspicious male hovering outside their residence and stalking their daughter. Was North Gate Road familiar to the suspicious male - somewhere he would return three months later in depositing the body of Cosette Ellison in the foothills of Mount Diablo? The method employed by the perpetrator in both cases is eerily similar, choosing remote locations and likely trailing, or waiting for the school bus to deliver his victim to him.
On December 10th 1969, Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo residence. This deviates a little from the two cases above, however, in this case the perpetrator again targeted a residence and was observed numerous times between the front door and a blue station wagon, his likely getaway vehicle.
If you have any pertinent information regarding the abduction and murder of Cosette Ellison, please contact the Moraga, California, Police Department via their website. Thank you.
Shortly after the Elaine Davis abduction on December 1st 1969, a resident of North Gate Road reported a suspicious male hovering outside their residence and stalking their daughter. Was North Gate Road familiar to the suspicious male - somewhere he would return three months later in depositing the body of Cosette Ellison in the foothills of Mount Diablo? The method employed by the perpetrator in both cases is eerily similar, choosing remote locations and likely trailing, or waiting for the school bus to deliver his victim to him.
On December 10th 1969, Leona Roberts was abducted from her boyfriend's 749 Tormey Avenue, Rodeo residence. This deviates a little from the two cases above, however, in this case the perpetrator again targeted a residence and was observed numerous times between the front door and a blue station wagon, his likely getaway vehicle.
If you have any pertinent information regarding the abduction and murder of Cosette Ellison, please contact the Moraga, California, Police Department via their website. Thank you.
There is a very strong possibility that the murderer of Cosette Ellison was Philip Joseph Hughes Jr, convicted in the murders of Maureen Field (19) in 1972, Lisa Ann Beery (15) in 1974 and Letitia Fagot (25) in 1975, all in Contra Costa County. Philip Hughes, adorned in headwear, looked extremely similar to the eyewitness description of the man seen in the Cosette Ellison case, whose body was found naked and partially buried in sand near Marsh Creek on the eastern side of Mount Diablo. The body of Maureen Field was dumped naked off Morgan Territory Road, the same location as Cosette Ellison.
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